The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
To monitor connectivity, detect link failures, and monitor various performance parameters of computer networks, network devices such as network switches, routers, edge devices and the like often implement Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) functions. OAM functions sometimes include Connectivity and Fault Management (CFM) functions as defined in ITU-T Y.1731, 802.1ag, or MPLS-TP OAM (currently being developed), for example, to detect and report link failures. Typically, OAM functions involve communicating OAM packets in a computer network, and then processing the OAM packets at the network device.